by crbutler on Sun Dec 21, 2014 11:14 pm
They are usually called recoil reducers, not suppressors (ie "silencers")
I had some in one of my hunting rifles (.416 Rigby)
I had them removed as I thought it made the rifle too heavy, and really have not noticed any difference in the recoil (these were professionally made and installed by the manufacturer of the rifle) The 2 were about a pound weight total.
They do help some mathematically, but if I didn't notice it in an "elephant gun" I doubt it is that much benefit in reality to most.
The trick is to permanently seal the mercury, and of you flub that up, all kinds of nasty things can happen. Yes, metallic (liquid) mercury is safe IN THAT FORM. Organic mercury (which is what happens when it reacts with most any tissue) is really bad news. You can also get in a lot of trouble with the EPA with this stuff- its not likely that they will come down on you for putting it in your own gun, but heaven help you if you sell the stuff.
If you really want a home made weight, use lead. If you want a mercury reducer, there are a bunch for sale commercially, get one of those, IMO.